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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

A Sneaking of Shorts

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What could be cooler than a sneak preview?
And that's exactly what we have here today—courtesy of the fab Malice Domestic. As they say in TV news: Shawn Reilly Simmons has
the story. Er, stories. Er, short stories.

SHAWN: This just in! (Couldn’t resist.) After a
fifteen year hiatus, Malice Domestic is pleased to announce the return of their
annual short story anthologies. Malice Domestic
11: Murder Most Conventional, published byWildside Press,will be
released during Malice 28 (April 29 – May 1, 2016). The anthology includes
twenty-two original stories and one modern classic reprint, each representing
their own take on the “cozy” style of mystery, those in the tradition of Agatha
Christie.

HANK: And the amazing Barb Goffman and Verena Rose and Rita Owens edited, (Barb really made my story shine--what a terrific line and developmental editor. And they all worked so hard--putting together an anthology is a huge job) and Katherine Hall Page wrote the thoughtful introduction. What a treat. The stories are hilarious. Clever—and very
specific.

SHAWN: Yes, definitely!. The stories all have to do
with some type of gathering or convention. But turns out, like any good
anthology there’s a wide range of stories, from historical pieces to modern
takes on fun gatherings.

HANK: Psst. Sneak preview! Here are just a few samples. And you can tell,
even from this, how amazingly different they are!

*******************

From:

THE PERFECT PITCH

by

Marie Hannan‐Mandel

Before you begin to feel sorry for
me, don’t. I’m here for an

inventors’ convention with my lint-collecting
dryer sheet

prototype, the Lint-Locker—the
guaranteed way to ensure your

laundry doesn’t get covered in
lint—so I can meet James Maguire

O’Reilly, megastar inventor. As
soon as I’d found out he was going

to be running workshops and hearing
inventor pitches—something

he never does—I’d registered, even
though it meant coming to

Maine in January. I signed up for
every one of his morning

workshops, and I’m going to make
sure he notices me. He’s going

to love my product and help me get
financial backing for it. All he

needs is to hear my pitch.

Soon enough I’ve found my
destination, a chain hotel on the

edge of town. It has cookies in the
lobby, racks of brochures, and a

fake fire.

“I’m here for the inventors’
convention,” I say when I catch the

front desk clerk’s eye.

From

The
Vanishing Wife

by

Victoria
Thompson

January 1899

“My wife has vanished.”

This was the last thing Frank
Malloy had expected his welldressed

client to say. When rich men came
to his Confidential

Inquiries office in Greenwich
Village, they were usually concerned

with marital infidelities or
dishonest employees.

“What do you mean, she vanished?”

Delwood Hooper rubbed a
well-manicured hand over his pale

face. “I came home last evening, as
usual, but my wife wasn’t there

to greet me. I asked our butler
where she was, and he informed me

that she had left town.”

“Then she didn’t exactly vanish,”
Frank said, settling back in

his chair. He was still breaking it
in since it, like everything else in

his office, was brand new. “Didn’t
he tell you where she went?”

“That’s the problem, you see.
Marjorie occasionally does go

out of town to visit friends or
relations, but she always leaves me a

note telling me exactly where she
went and when she will return.

This time, she didn’t.”

From:

Two Birds with One Stone

by

Rhys Bowen

“The pipes are playing to celebrate
the Gathering of the Clans,”

I said. “Binky felt we should do
the right thing with visitors from

all over Scotland coming together
here. It’s a great honor, you

know, to be chosen to host the
annual Gathering of the Clans. It

only comes to us about every twenty
years. I was a toddler last time

it happened in 1913, but I vaguely
remember all the fuss and that I

was terrified of those huge men in
kilts and ran back to Nanny.”

“Huge men in kilts?” Queenie perked
up at this.

“They’ll all be wearing traditional
Highland dress for the

games.”

“What sort of games?” She was
looking quite interested now.

“The Highland Games are the main part of the
gathering,”

I

explained. “You know, they toss the caber and throw the hammer.

All sorts of feats of strength.”

“They have strong feet?” she asked, puzzled.

I tried not to laugh. “No, I meant contests to demonstrate how

strong they are. You can go down and watch them practicing later,

if you like. My brother has set aside the meadow beyond the

stables as a practice field. Oh, and speaking of my brother, I have

to go and inspect the facilities after breakfast to make sure all is in

order. You know how—” I broke off. I had been going to say “You

know how hopeless he is about organizing things,” but one does

not criticize

From

A Dark and Stormy Light

by

Gigi Pandian

A few years ago, while I was still
a graduate student, I began

attending Asian History
conferences. At the fateful gathering I will

always think of as The
Conference, we didn’t fill up the entire

hotel. Instead, we found ourselves
sharing the space with a mystery

writers’ convention.

If I’m being true to the story, I
need to say that it began on a

dark and stormy night. If it hadn’t
been for that storm, the whole

fiasco would have been avoided.

From

The Clue in the Blue Booth

by

Hank Phillippi Ryan

I touched the flowered silk scarf
tied around my neck, and the

strand of pearls underneath. It’s
not usually necessary for me to go

undercover to blend into a crowd,
because my whole life is

undercover. But coming here in
costume had seemed prudent, and

now, surveying the lobby, the line
of registration desks, and the

vast convention floor, it turned
out my costume was not only

prudent, but hilarious. It was like
being in a massive hall of

mirrors.

Blond wigs—or, on some, I supposed,
real blond hair—scarves

and pearls and twin-set cashmere
sweaters, stockings, and sensible

shoes. Plaid skirts. Some women
carried magnifying glasses, and

some, like me, wore little vintage
hats tilted rakishly over one eye.

A fluttering canvas banner
suspended from the erector-set

ceiling announced why we were all
dressed that way, and why we

were here—not exactly why I’m here,
of course, but why the rest of

them were here. NANCY DREW
CONVENTION, it trumpeted.

They’d included a huge graphic portrayal
of the iconic silhouette of

the 1930s girl sleuth, all waved
hair and cloche hat and pearls and

cardigan. Just like me.

Just like all the attendees,
because all were requested to dress as

Nancy Drew. Clearly, these women
followed directions. The

organizers had promised a big-time
surprise guest speaker, and as

of now, word hadn’t leaked about
who that would be. Not even to

me, which was somewhat unnerving. I don’t like
surprises.

From

A Gathering of Great Detectives

by Shawn Reilly Simmons

“What’s going on here today?”
Detective Murphy asked,

making eye contact with his partner
briefly before turning his gaze

back to the couple. “Are you having
some kind of event or

something?” He glanced at their
vintage clothes and Mrs. Adams’s

hair, which was curled and sprayed
into place. They looked like

they’d stepped out of one of those
old black-and-white movies his

mother was always watching. Mr.
Adams wore a tux with a white

bow tie and Mrs. Adams was in a
shimmery black evening gown

with a string of pearls around her
neck. They were pretty decked

out, especially for noon on a
Saturday.

Mrs. Adams placed a hand lightly on
her chest and said, “It’s

our annual convention, A Gathering
of Great Detectives.” She

waved at a wooden table along the
far wall of the foyer near the

reception desk. A few leather badge
holders with names written on

yellowing paper tucked inside were
lined up on the table. “We

gather every year, about sixty of us,
and solve a mystery.”

“Murder,” Mr. Adams boomed from
behind her, causing his

wife to jump slightly.

“Yes, murder, that’s right, dear,”
she said. “We’re different

from the average murder mystery
weekend though. Attendees must

appear as their favorite detective
and stay in character all weekend,

or until the mystery is solved.”

HANK and SHAWN: We bet you cannot wait to get your
hands on one of hese! Friday night during Malice, right after the live charity
auction, there will be a special signing event for the contributing authors,
over twenty in total. We hope to see you there!

HANK: And we’ll give a copy, of course, as a prize to
one lucky commenter!This’ll be easy, since you don’t actually have to write
the story—where would you sent a short story that had to be about a convention?
I first contemplated a convention of convention planners.

Shawn Reilly Simmons is the author of the Red Carpet Catering mystery
series published by Henery Press. The third book in the series, Murder on a Designer Diet will be released June 7th. Shawn
is a member of the Malice Domestic Board of Directors and a contributing author
to the Murder Most Conventional anthology.

I would set it at the annual Society for American Archaeology, preferably being held in New Orleans. In the poster session room. And on one of those posters would be photos from an excavation, including skeletal remains. And among those remains.... well, you'll have to wait to read the rest of the story.

This collection looks like so much fun! Such a great idea, a Nancy Drew convention. And Rhys's clans gathering - talk about built-in conflict.

I once stayed at a hotel in Phoenix that was hosting a St. Bernard owners convention. People had trailers parked in the lot and set up with dog grooming stations. It was so sweet, and I really wanted to go. You know how dogs resemble their owners? Well...

It's been hanging around in the back of my mind ever since, but it would take too much research to get it right.

Since I was just there --- crossword puzzle tournament! It is beyond fun! People wear crossword fabric clothing -- ties, jackets, hats -- and all the conversation is full of references to gnus and emirs and novas.

This is such fun--you're right, can't wait to read the whole thing. I had a good idea for one of these stories but couldn't find the time to write it:(. Love Deb's idea of the political convention--we may see murderous acts in real time this year!

Was anyone else at Malice the year we shared the hotel with all those enormous African-American bodyguards? It was quite a hilarious combination!!

Yes, a political convention would be good. Any sort of writers' convention, but especially mystery. Can you imagine a story taking place at something akin to Bouchercon in New Orleans? Love the Nancy Drew convention. What about a convention of Sherlock look-a-likes? Or Poirot?

I don't remember that, Roberta. But there was some convention I went to--anyone remember?--where the Mary Kays were also meeting.

And another one where I swore there was also a hooker convention, forgive me--we were all forced to leave the building at 2am because of the fire alarm. I looked at the outfits surrounding me--I was in a jersey nightgown, Uggs and a jean jacket--and thought, WOW, I did not know such conventions existed.

It was Malice Domestic in 2006 or so where we shared the hotel with Louis Farrakhan's people. And it was also Malice (perhaps a year or two later) where the fire alarm went off in one wing of the hotel in the middle of the night. Thank goodness I wasn't in that wing.

As to conventions, this book has stories set at so many unusual conventions. (Eleanor Cawood Jones, this means you!) Before I started editing, I was expecting most of the stories to be set at mystery-type conventions, but in the end, there were only four (if I'm remembering correctly), including mine. And thanks for the shout-out about my story, Hank. I had a lot of fun with it.

And there are two stories set at (or partly at) political conventions in the book. How timely were those authors?! I hope everyone enjoys the anthology. The authors have really done nice work.

Loved the openings to the stories. They sucked me right in. We stayed at a hotel in Columbus, Ohio once when they were hosting a convention for people who have parties and sell Longaberger baskets. Every woman I saw was carrying a basket as a purse. Imagine all the nefarious weapons one could haul around in a closed basket. That same trip also saw Civil War reenactors set up downtown. They included a period undertaker with arsenic to prepare bodies for the final trip home.

I remember the Farrakhan year--how could we forget? I also remember a gathering of leather enthusiasts finishing up their convention one year just as we were coming in to set up. I always thought that would have been an interesting mix of folks if we'd shared the same weekend...

Longaberger is the brand. They are baskets woven by hand in some little town in Ohio. At least I think by hand. Anyway they make many different kinds, not cheap, and sold only by individuals. It is the Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware type sales plan.And, no, I do not own any! I'm sure the convention was a combination sales rally/new products intoduction type event.

Oh what fun! Inspired by Charlotte Brontë's 200th birthday year (April 21, in fact) I'd set it at a Brontë convention. Imagine the conflict: Rochester vs. Heathcliff, Branwellites claiming he wrote all the books.

And I like the suggestions above where some other convention is taking place in the same hotel.

Looks like fabulous fun, and I can't wait to read it! (Congrats to Gigi Pandian for actually working in "It was a dark and stormy night!")

As for what convention I'd write about--the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, of course! It's a once-every-three-year gathering that convenes an entire mini-Washington, DC of Episcopalians: two houses, legislators, an executive branch, lobbyists, special-interest groups, vendors, NGOs... it definitely has possibilities for foul play. Murder Most Polite, since we're Episcopalians.

Oh, how I wish I were going to Malice, but having this anthology to read will soften the blow. Great theme of conventions and great choices of inventors, Nancy Drew, gathering of the clans, great detectives. Rhys, I can't wait to read what sort of trouble Queenie gets into at the clan gathering. Hank, a Nancy Drew convention sounds like a perfect gathering of fun. Shawn, great detectives would be the best setting for murder ever.

Denise, the crossword puzzle convention sounds like a hoot. Where was it?

Google "Longaberger headquarters". The building is closing, but it's in the shape of a big picnic basket. I don't know what in the world they'll do with it now. Retirement home for retired basketmakers?

All the short stories sound great. Can't wait to get my hands on the anthology.

Two follow up thoughts to others' posts: the problem with a political convention is there would be so many attendees who lie routinely that a polygraph would probably serve no purpose. It only works if one feels emotional tension about lying.

And yes, Longaberger baskets are hand woven. The company was the hottest thing in the 1990's, but have fallen out of favor now. The company is hanging on by a thread. We used to have "the basket ladies" convention in Columbus each year.

I think it would be fun to consider some sort of religious convention -- I've been to some, both in the Lutheran church and the Catholic. It would hold the possibility for interesting motivations and secrets.

There were two small conventions meeting at a hotel in Dublin, Ireland last trip there. One was a support group for some kind of disease. The other was The Irish Widows Society. A lot of widows were hitting the hotel bar that night.

Ooohhh, I LOVE sneak peeks!! All of these stories sound amazing too. As for me, well I've been to a great many sci fi/fantasy conventions (like ComiCon) and the possibilities for stories set in one of them are endless!!

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